Wine found to reduce death by diabetes

11th March, 2014 by Lauren Eads

Moderate wine consumption has been shown to decrease the risk of cardiovascular events and death in type 2 diabetes sufferers.

According to research carried out by Advance – the first and largest research study into diabetes – patients with type 2 diabetes benefitted from moderate consumption of alcohol, particularly wine, which appeared to be linked to a decreased risk for cardiovascular events and mortality, as reported by health news site healio.com.

Researchers drew upon data collected from 11,140 patients from 20 different countries who had enrolled in the Advance trial to obtain participants’ alcohol consumption and the type of alcoholic beverage consumed and then categorised it as nil, moderate or heavy.

Heavy consumption was defined as more than 21 drinks per week for men and more than 14 drinks per week for women; moderate consumption was defined as 21 or fewer drinks per week for men and 14 or fewer alcoholic drinks per week for women.

The researchers found that, following a five year follow up, there were 1,031 (9%) deaths, 1,147 (10%) cardiovascular events (CV) and 1,136 (10%) microvascular complications.

Statistics revealed that patients who drank moderately had fewer CV events, less microvascular complications and lower mortality rates, with patients who mainly drank wine experiencing the most pronounced benefits, according to a report by Healio.com.

The benefits did not extend to those with heavy alcohol consumption which instead saw and increased risk of CV events and death.

However researchers were keen to stress that that the potential benefits must be weighed against the possible adverse effects of alcohol, such as the increased risk of certain cancers.

A spokesperson for the research team said: “In light of these caveats, it would be premature to make any firm clinical recommendations regarding alcohol consumption by patients with type 2 diabetes.

“Nevertheless, the current study finds no grounds to discourage mild to moderate alcohol consumption, at least in terms of its vascular effects.”